SAGINAW — Attorneys will deliver their closing arguments this morning in the trial for the man accused of an early July 17 homicide outside an after-hours club on Saginaw’s West Side.

After three days of testimony in the trial for Demetric D. Broaden, 29, both sides rested late Wednesday.

Broaden, also known as “Smiley,” is charged with an open count of murder and eight other felonies in the death of Carl Thomas, 31, outside the VIP Lounge, 1523 S. Michigan at Fraser. His trial before Saginaw County Circuit Judge Darnell Jackson began Jan. 31 but was postponed Feb. 1 because of a medical emergency before continuing Tuesday.

Thomas was shot during a shootout that featured, according to the Tuesday testimony of state police Lt. Ron Crichton, at least three guns. Broaden also was shot.

Wednesday’s testimony featured Saginaw Police Detective Andy Carlson, the lead investigator on the case, six defense witnesses, and three rebuttal witnesses.

Of the six defense witnesses, five testified that they saw Broaden shooting pool at the club. Each of the five — Antwon Shivers, Demarcus Brazil, Van Williams, Lillian Jones, and Calvin McReynolds – said they saw some sort of argument or commotion inside the club and that minutes later, shots rang out outside the club. The five witnesses testified that Broaden was not involved in the fight, a statement which contradicted the testimony of Thomas’ girlfriend, Lakisha Jones, who testified Tuesday that Broaden shot Thomas.

Two of the five witnesses said they shot Broaden after he was shot. Shivers, who said he knew Broaden since Shivers was a kid but didn’t know Broaden’s nickname as the other witnesses did, said he saw Broaden on the ground as Shivers ran away from the scene. Williams, Broaden’s cousin, testified that he was with friends at his car, which was parked on a side street near the club. As the shooting still was going on, Williams testified, two men approached his car, saying that somebody was shot. The victim was loaded into the car and as he sped away toward the hospital, Williams learned the victim was Broaden, he testified.

Each of the five witnesses said they had no information that Broaden was involved in the shootout other than being a shooting victim.

The sixth defense witness was Broaden’s mother, Joann Broaden, who began choking up and holding back tears within moments of sitting at the witness stand. She testified regarding a police raid of her home at 3012 Parkwood in Saginaw, saying that officers threw her to the ground and handcuffed her, pointed guns with laser sights at the head of her son who has Down’s Syndrome, and threw the son on top of her boyfriend, who also was thrown to the ground. She also testified that there was “40” officers raiding her home, that one of the Saginaw County Emergency Services Team members repelled from the roof of her home, and that multiple officers were cursing at her and her family, telling her to “Shut the (expletive) up.”

One of the rebuttal witnesses was Saginaw Township Sgt. Rick Herren, who is a team leader for the emergency services team and led the raid effort that day. He testified that the county team only has 15 officers, 11 of which participated in the raid of the Broaden home. Herren testified that the team does not “have the means” to place an officer on the roof and have the officer repel and that only one officer has a laser sight on any of his guns – a handgun that the officer had holstered.

Herren testified that when his team arrived, Joann Broaden was standing at her door and told the officers about her son. Joann Broaden stepped aside and allowed the officers in her home, Herren testified, and her boyfriend “immediately” placed himself on the kitchen floor. The son with Down’s Syndrome was “confused” and “wandering around” the kitchen, Herren said, and then placed himself between two other team members in their “stack.” The officers then “passed” the son back through their line to the outside of the home and to the custody of Joann Broaden, Herren testified.

Carl Thomas

Carlson, the detective, testified to discredit the claims of Jovan Kimball, who testified that the statement he gave to Carlson and state police Lt. Brian Cole, in which he tells the officers that Broaden and Thomas argued inside the club and outside the club before Broaden shot Thomas and two “Jamaican” men also were shooting, was what Carlson “made” him say. Carlson testified that he did not tell Kimball what to say and did not threaten to charge him with Thomas’ death.

“At no time did I ever say, ‘This is what I want you to say,’ ” Carlson said. “I didn’t even know what I was looking for. … It was Mr. Kimball who actually provided me with the information” that Broaden shot Thomas.

Broaden’s Cassopolis-based attorney, Edwin G. Johnson III, grilled Carlson during his cross-examination, criticizing Carlson’s technique of writing statements for witnesses based on the information the witness provides and then having the witness sign the statement. The detective also acknowledged that there is no physical evidence that connects Broaden to the shooting and that police have no suspects as to who the other two shooters are or who shot Broaden.

The exchanges between Johnson and Carlson sometimes became heated enough that Jackson intervened, instructing Johnson to not argue and Carlson to answer the attorney’s questions and not provide further explanation.

Broaden also is charged with two counts of assault with intent to murder in relation to Jones, Thomas’ girlfriend who was shot seven times, and Charlesworth Williams, who was shot from behind, as well as six firearm offenses. If convicted of first-degree murder, Broaden would face a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.